Is one eliquid brand better than another? I ask because the flea market store near me sells Dakang & Johnson's Creek. I have the Dakang Menthol 11mg and I'm not happy with the taste and it burns my throat a little. I'm going to try adding a little vanilla to it to make it work for me taste-wise. Not sure what to do about throat burn, I already had that from something else prior to starting vaping. Maybe reducing nicotine even further to a 6mg maybe? I was a Menthol Ultra light smoker ever since I can remember 3/4 - 1 pk a day.

If you have some Johnson Creek TOBACCO flavors you could add some menthol to it. Use a small bottle to TEST the flavor to see how you like it. In my opinion menthol vanilla doesn't sound appealling. You could try adding some apple flavoring to the menthol and tobacco juice. LorAnn's flavoring are available at stores like Kitchen Emporium type stores. Tobacco, Apple, Menthol. YUM. But like I said use a small bottle to test the flavor. Don't just mix it all together in a big bottle until you know you like it.

There are so many brands of e-liquid and they're all different. It's a matter of taste and personal preference. I was also a menthol smoker and my favorite is vanilla mint from virgin vapors. If you opt for 100% VG, the throat hit is much more mellow. They offer 8 mg nicotine if you want to try stepping it down. IMO there's a big leap between 12 mg and 6 mg.

Check out the e-liquid forum and the e-liquid reviews. The best way to determine what works for you is to try a bunch of liquids. I also like the matterhorn menthol from Welcome to AltCig.com - Your Flavor Lives Here and it seems they're always have a sale. It can be a little expensive to experiment with liquids but it's worth it to find the one that's the perfect fit for you.

Stick with American made but after that it just your preference. Mom and Pops Vapor shop is as good as any to start decent selection and price. Good service also. Don't be afraid of experimenting try some samples there's so many great flavors!

Was a pack a day smoker of menthols. Some juice kicked my butt, others weren't enough of a hit. I've had juice from all different companies. I started with 24mg nic content and it was ok. Again, some flavors were hitting way too hard. Others were just right. Personally, I tend to stick with the clear to semi clear juices. They don't bother me as bad. I'm finally down to 10mg/12mg of nicotine. Couldn't be happier. I'm finally getting much more pronounced flavor and a satisfying throat hit. Not too much, not too little.

Point being...if you have a brick and mortar store close to you, I suggest going in and sampling different flavors. The closest to me is an hour and a half away. It's totally worth the drive/ride up there. I get to try different flavors and nicotine strengths to see what I like and what I don't. I know you said flea market store...are their juices fresh? Do they store them properly? If I go to an actual storefront, I ask that they pull juice from the back. I left juice in an air conditioned environment, but, in sunlight. It ruined about $100 worth of product. Every flavor went bad and it was unbearable. Each person is different and bad juice to me might be still ok for them. Taste and throat hit are subjective from person to person. This is just my experience.

In my opinion there really isn't any one juice maker that is any better than any other, in general.
I mean, it's just PG and VG and nicotine and flavorings.

So what makes one different from another is how much PG vs VG they use.
So you need to find out what your preferences are in that regard.

And another difference is how much flavor they use, with many people liking a lot of flavor.

If I hear that a certain vendor has really flavorful juice, I wont order any.
My taste buds are in overdrive, and I really don't like getting beat over the head with flavors.

A final difference is of course the recipes used, the flavors chosen and how they are mixed.
There may be some who really excel at that aspect, but in my opinion it is pretty much hit and miss with any vendor.

My 10 favorite juices come from 10 different vendors, so that shows you what I think about this question.

In terms of ingredient quality, some are probably better than others. The problem is (as others have wisely pointed out), the only way to know what you like is to test and decide for yourself. The "boutique" American producers might provide better overall quality than their counterparts in China, but you may love Dekang flavors for example. A lot of folks do!

The best is what's best for you, and no one can tell you what that will be. Someone suggested a trip to a brick and mortar if at all possible and if they will let you "taste". That's a great idea if it's an option. Really, you're going to be making decisions in two areas:

1) What types of flavors do you like? Some people love fruit flavors, some hate them. Some love "dessert" flavors, some straight tobacco, some tobacco blends...you get the idea.
2) What vendors do you like? Different vendors use different bases, etc. Most people seem to find that some vendors produce more juices they like and have a higher "hit rate" with those vendors.

Once you start narrowing down each of those two, the search will become easier, and you will have more hits and less misses. Last but not least, if you can get together a little "trading partnership", you can swap both hits and misses back and forth with a few other vapers and experiment more cheaply. Have fun learning what you like!

Stick with American made but after that it just your preference. Mom and Pops Vapor shop is as good as any to start decent selection and price. Good service also. Don't be afraid of experimenting try some samples there's so many great flavors!

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WHAT??????? Is eliquid make in Great Britian or Germany or China some how inferior than US made eliquid???? America is very late to the game when it comes to vaping supplies including eliquids. There is no reason to use one eliquid or another based soley on country of orgin.

I like Johnson Creek, Vikingvapor and madvapes. For tobacco flavors I think Johnson Creek is the way to go. I think they have a leg up on the rest because they focus on quality and consistency. For fruity and dessert juices, Viking and madvapes are great. However, I have received incorrectly marked bottles from madvapes more than one time. The flavor was not what was ordered or what was printed on the label. The juice was clearly not the correct juice just by looking at the color of it. Madvapes did immediately send out a new bottle, but this left me with concerns regarding their quality control. How do I know that I am getting the correct nicotine levels? Never the less, I still order from madvapes as they seem to be a solid company and the juice is so cheap. I have also used gourmet vapor which is good too.

In terms of ingredient quality, some are probably better than others. The problem is (as others have wisely pointed out), the only way to know what you like is to test and decide for yourself. The "boutique" American producers might provide better overall quality than their counterparts in China, but you may love Dekang flavors for example. A lot of folks do!...............

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Based on companies that have been in this business the longest, such as V4L and Janty who actually go to the factories in China that make eliquid, the exact opposite could be true and that Chinese made eliquid has much higher quality practices than many "boutique" suppliers who can be mixing their eliquids in the kitchen sink or basement. Even suggesting lesser quality control doesn't make sense unless one has examined both.

WHAT??????? Is eliquid make in Great Britian or Germany or China some how inferior than US made eliquid????

This smacks of elitism.

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In my post above, I compared "Boutique" American juice makers to Chinese bulk producers. Your post makes a good point: I have not tried juices made anywhere but the US and China, with the exception of one British juice maker.

As far as quality of Chinese manufactured juices, they will vary just like juices made anywhere else. However, manufacturing and supply chain, and particularly quality management is my area of expertise. Chinese manufacturers in general have a less enlightened approach to quality than manufacturers in a lot of the rest of the industrialized world. This is typical of nations developing their manufacturing capabilities, and in fact they're reminiscent of Korean manfacturing if you go back a few years (ok, a decade or more). As understanding of good QM practice developed in Korea (see Hyundai and LG as shining examples of how far they came in an amazingly short time), so will it in China. I teach Ops/Supply Chain Management to MBA students at a university here in California, and more and more of my students are from China - they are being sent abroad to study and bring the knowledge back to their family-owned manufacturing enterprises in China. ATM, however, I'm reminded of a thread I read earlier from a manufacturer in the PRC pointing out that their products only exhibited a 2% rate of defect!

Apologies for the momentary hijack, but I thought wv2win asked a good question!

As far as quality of Chinese manufactured juices, they will vary just like juices made anywhere else. However, manufacturing and supply chain, and particularly quality management is my area of expertise. Chinese manufacturers in general have a less enlightened approach to quality than manufacturers in a lot of the rest of the industrialized world.

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I won't argue that point, since you're the expert and I really don't know squat.
But it is fairly certain a Chinese juice maker like Dekang has far better QM than most boutique juice makers.

An OEM’s QC Procedures maybe be taken at face value. This is based on what is in the 30ml Bottle you receive in the mail is Actually the OEM Brand that it was Advertised as.

Where as a Retailers QC Procedures for making Flavored e-Liquids from Nicotine base could be Anything from a Sterile Room with Positive Ventilation and “Suited” Workers to Mixing e-Liquids in the Sink with a Boat Oar while smoking an Analog.

I have only seen One or Two e-Liquid Retailers who provide any Independent Analytical Analysis of their Ingredients to show that they are Free of Contaminants.

Most retailers just send you a Bottle with a Avery Label stuck on it saying what Flavor/mg it Should be.

I firmly believe that there are some OEM's who have Extremely Poor or Close to Non-Existing Quality Control. I think the same goes for End Mixing Retailers.

I like to buy American if possible to Help the US Economy. Just like I think a Person in the UK should buy UK products verses Imports.